Today in Wheeling History: March 20—David H. Greer, Episcopal bishop and advocate for peace, was born in Wheeling (1844).
David Hummell Greer was born on March 20, 1844, in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), to Jacob Rickard Greer and Elisabeth Yellott Armstrong. He graduated from Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College) in Pennsylvania in 1862 and later studied at the Protestant Episcopal Seminary in Gambier, Ohio, preparing for a prominent career in the Episcopal Church.
Ordained as a priest in 1868, Greer served in Kentucky, Rhode Island, and New York City. His impactful tenure at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City spanned 16 years, leading to his election as Bishop Coadjutor in 1903 and his succession as the 8th Bishop of New York in 1908. In 1913, Greer celebrated a service for the General Convention at St. John the Divine, where an extraordinary offering of $500,000 (millions today) was collected. The magnitude of the offering required three clergymen to carry it to the altar and all night for expert bank tellers to count. The service was followed by a reception for 5,000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Initially opposing U.S. involvement in World War I, Greer later supported it as a moral fight against tyranny. A staunch advocate for peace, he led the Church Peace Union in 1914. Greer passed away on May 19, 1919, in New York City and is buried with his wife, Caroline Augusta Keith.
To learn more: Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/35wfpazu), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/yxsxh67p)
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, Find a Grave
David Hummell Greer was born on March 20, 1844, in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), to Jacob Rickard Greer and Elisabeth Yellott Armstrong. He graduated from Washington College (now Washington & Jefferson College) in Pennsylvania in 1862 and later studied at the Protestant Episcopal Seminary in Gambier, Ohio, preparing for a prominent career in the Episcopal Church.
Ordained as a priest in 1868, Greer served in Kentucky, Rhode Island, and New York City. His impactful tenure at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City spanned 16 years, leading to his election as Bishop Coadjutor in 1903 and his succession as the 8th Bishop of New York in 1908. In 1913, Greer celebrated a service for the General Convention at St. John the Divine, where an extraordinary offering of $500,000 (millions today) was collected. The magnitude of the offering required three clergymen to carry it to the altar and all night for expert bank tellers to count. The service was followed by a reception for 5,000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Initially opposing U.S. involvement in World War I, Greer later supported it as a moral fight against tyranny. A staunch advocate for peace, he led the Church Peace Union in 1914. Greer passed away on May 19, 1919, in New York City and is buried with his wife, Caroline Augusta Keith.
To learn more: Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/35wfpazu), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/yxsxh67p)
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, Find a Grave
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